Evangeline – How a Play Gets Made

One of the best things about Charlottetown is the Confederation Centre of the arts which has Anne of Green Gables and a library and the art bunker for classes and a moose sculpture and a totem pole and tons of flags.

The theatre at Confederation Centre is called the Charlottetown Festival. This summer they are putting on a brand new play. It will be a musical called Evangeline, which is a famous Acadian story. I am Acadian and I go to Ecole Francois Buote.

Evangeline is a really old poem. It is about the deportation of the Acadians which is when the Acadians were sent away from the Maritimes by the English in the 1750s. They were tooken away because they were living on English land after the English won the land from France and they refused to fight for the English. They didn’t want to fight the French.

This month, Confederation Centre is letting me go backstage to see how the play gets made. I have been in a play before but never one this big.

This is what I know about how a play gets made. You need lots of things.

actors – these are the people who will play the characters in your show.

director – this is the person who makes sure that everything is going smoothly and is the boss of the play.

stage managers – these people who organize the stuff on stage.

props – these are thing that the actors use on stage to hold so everything looks real.

sets – these are the backgrounds for the show, like pictures of houses or boats, so the place where your story happens looks real.

costumes – these are the clothes that the actors put on. If your play is about zombies, the costumes will be ripped clothes. If your play is about a fancy king, your costumes will be made of silk. If your play is in olden times, the costumes will be old-fashioned.

This is the set for the Acadian cabin.

I went to Confederation Centre with my mom and we got to meet the director, Annie, and the stage manager Chris because you need a stage manager too when your play is really big. And we met Reza who plays piano and we met Adam who plays Gabriel who is the main guy who Evangeline loves. He is very tall.

We also got to see them making an anvil for props because there is a blacksmith in the play.

And we met ladies who sew costumes and one of them is Acadian. The costumes are mostly old-fashioned and plain colours because it is an old fashioned play. The British wear red, though. And they have muskets for props. The costumes are made on fake bodies called Judys and Jimys.

Here is the costume of a character named Rene. My grandpapa’s name is Rene too.

So I get to go see them practice and develop the play and we’ll tell you more in the next post. My mom and I will be sharing writing our next post and telling the different things we notice backstage.

Leave comments whenever you want to ask us questions about the play or tell us what you want to know about Evangeline.

Oscar, this was great! I loved reading about the old-fashioned costumes. I wonder, do you think if there was a play about old-fashioned zombie kings, would they wear old-fashioned ripped silk? I bet! You’ll have to write that play when you’re done learning all about it! Talk to you soon,
Kate (and Evan and Ben!)

Did you have a favourite costume? Did you see any of the practices yet or just making stuff for the play? If you could do any of the jobs that go into making a play, which one do you think would be the most interesting or most fun?

Thanks for telling us about Evangeline, Oscar. I can’t wait until your next post!

Oscar,
I work in the box office at the Confederation Centre. I can’t wait to see this show – I think it’s going to be amazing. Thanks for telling us about your visit backstage. I hope you can tell us more in the future!

Thank you so much for sharing this. My husband plays in the orchestra for the Charlottetown Festival, but most of the musicians do not start rehearsals for a couple more weeks so it is great for us to read about what is happening there right now. I look forward to reading more.

Hi Oscar. Another great blog!! Your really doing a nice job explaining all about all the work that is required to put a play on! We find it very informative and we hope you keep writing to tell us more!! love you lots!! xoxo